Toaster



(No Model.)

- H. S.'JENINE.

TOASTER.

No. 462,048. Patented Oct. 27, 1891.

UNTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY S. JENNE, OF WELLS, MINNESOTA, ASSIGNO R TO EDVARD P. \VOODS AND CYRUS H. LATHAM, BOTH OF LOTVELL, MASSACHUSETTS.

TOASTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 462,048, dated October 2'7, 1891.

Application filed May 4, 1891. Serial No. 391,449- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY S. JENNE, a citizen of the United States, residing at ells, in the county of Faribault and State of Minnesota, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Toasters, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to toasters, sometimes called broilers, and it consists in the means,

IO hereinafter described, whereby the toaster proper or gridiron of the device may be held at either of two equal angles on opposite sides of the handle of the toaster.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is [5 an isometric perspective view of a toaster or broiler provided with my improvement, the gridiron of the same being represented in a horizontal position; Fig. 2, an isometric perspective View of the same, the gridiron being in a vertical position, the handle making the same angle with said gridiron as in Fig. 1, but the angle being between the opposite sides of the handle and gridiron from what is shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a plan of the handle,

stop-link, and the adjacent part of the gridiron, said link being shown in full lines in the position it occupies normally when the toaster is in use and in dotted lines in the position it first takes in reversing the toaster.

The gridiron B of the toaster may be of any usual form adapted to press upon opposite sides of the article being toasted, but is shown as a wire framework having parallel longitudinal bars or grids b and transverse 3 5 end bars b 11 which unite all thelongitudinal bars or grids b, the gridiron as a whole being bent or doubled into two parallel parts B B between which the bread, meat, or other thing to be toasted is held.

0 The handle A is represented as a wire bent in the middle at a into two sides or members a a and at its ends provided with eyes a a which loosely surround one 1) of the end bars, to enable the gridiron to be swung into dif- 5 ferent angular positions with reference to the handle A. The gridiron is provided with a backwardl -extending loop 5 which may be continuous with the bars Z) of the middle pair of bars or parallel grids Z), the outer end of said loop I) being contracted or clinched together at 11 just in front of the closed end of said loop to form an eye The link 0 is of' the form shown, being T-shaped,having at its front end or foot an eye 0, which engages the eye b the upper end of said 5 5 link being bent laterally at c outward, then looped at 0 around one side or member a of the handle A, then across said handle at 0 and looped at 0 around the other member or side a of said handle A in such a manner that the rear upper end or head of said link may slide freely on said handle. The member a of the handle'A is offset at o laterallyoutward above the loop to serve as a shoulder or stop to limit the movement of the head of the link O on said handle to hold the gridiron B in a horizontal position when the handle is held at substantially the angle shown in Fig. 1, the wire which forms the handle being elastic and its members a a normally spreading 7o sufficiently to keep said shoulder normally above the top of the loop 0 of the .link 0. The backwardly-extending loop 12 being rigidly attached to the pivot-bar b and the combined length of said loop b and of the linkO being greater than the distance between the shoulder a and said bar I), the gridiron must always be at an angle to its handle A when said shoulder is above the head of said link, the size of said angle depending on the rela- 8o tive lengths of said link, loop 17 and the distance between said bar I) and the shoulder a WVhen the handle, being held at the angle shown in Fig. 1, is compressed laterally, the loop 0 being large enough to allow this to be done, the weight of the gridiron causes it to fall or swing downward, throwing said loop above the shoulder a, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 3, and the further movement of the gridiron draws said link downward until said loop passes below saidshoulder, so that the handle being turned half-way around upon its longitudinal axis the gridiron is inverted with respect to its former position, but still occupies the same plane it the handle be held in the same position as before.

The construction above described enables the toaster to be used either as what is known to the trade as a drop-toaster, or toaster the gridiron of which is adapted to be held in a Leo horizontal position over a bed of coals, the toaster being inserted in the stove-holes or holes in the top of the stove, or as what is known to the trade as a swing-toaster, in which the gridiron is held in a vertical position in front of a fire, the handle being held horizontally or at any angle to the gridiron that may be preferred. This construction also allows the gridiron to be reversed without any danger of burning the fingers.

I claim as my invention 1. The combination of the gridiron having a backward extension, the handle pivoted to said gridiron in front of said extension and having an outwardly-extending shoulder, and alink jointed at its lower end to the free end of said extension and at its upper end sliding on said handle and normally stopped by said shoulder to hold said gridiron at an angle tosaid handle, as and for the purpose specified.

2. The combination of the gridiron having said handle and normally stopped by said shoulder to hold said gridiron at an angle to said handle,said upper end of said link adapted when said handle is compressed to pass said shoulder to allow the angle between said gridiron and handle to be reversed, as and for the purpose specified.

In witness whereof I have signed this specification, in the presence of two attesting Witnesses, this 27th day of April, A. D. 1891.,

HENRY S. JENNE.

Witnesses:

JAMES H. QUINN, MARIBEL MCGREGOR. 

